INDIANAPOLIS — Tracy Abrams stood, hunched over with his hands on his knees staring into the distance.

A few feet away Nnanna Egwu did the same, stunned in disbelief.

Illinois got the shot it wanted. Down by one with 3.9 seconds left on the clock, the Illini drew up a play for Abrams to attack the basket to his right.

He had come up large in so many moments — earlier this year against Missouri, Thursday against Indiana and as the Illini’s emotional and vocal leader all year long.

But with a chance to upset Michigan, the top seed in the Big Ten tournament, a floater from Abrams clanked off the front of the rim.

Michigan 64, Illinois 63.

Jon Ekey watched on the floor and thought the shot was going in. Mike LaTulip watched from the bench and thought the same.

“That’s a shot we see Tracy make everyday in practice,” Ekey said.

LaTulip added: “That’s one of those shots Tracy practices all the time. I’ve seen him hit that hundreds of times.”

But with Illinois’ season and hopes for a berth in the NCAA tournament on the line it did not fall, eliminating the team from the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.

“Of course, I thought it was going to go in, and I thought we were going to win and I had the utmost confidence,” Abrams said. “I wasn’t shocked that we lost, but shocked the shot didn’t go in. But it is what it is.”

Illinois has lost just twice in its last seven games, and both of those defeats were to Michigan. In their first meeting, the Wolverines drubbed the Illini by 31 points at State Farm Center, for the worst home loss in school history.

This game played out much more competitively, and Illinois led 63-62 with 19 seconds to play. Even though the Illini had instituted a zone defense that stifled the Wolverines for much of the second half, the team decided play man-to-man on that possession, in large part because of Wolverines guard Nik Stauskas — the Big Ten player of the year. With the game on the line, the Illini did not want to give him the chance at an open jump shot.

But a pick-and-roll between Stauskas and forward Jordan Morgan led to an easy layup for Morgan and gave Michigan its final advantage. When asked if he thought he should have went zone on that possession Illini coach John Groce said, “Well I do now.”

“You can second-guess so many things throughout the course of a game,” Groce said. “As long as it’s — I tell the staff all the time — as long as it’s educated and it’s well thought out and there’s a reason, we’ve got to go with it. Hindsight is always 20/20 on decisions like that.”

Page 2 of 2 - The game seemed like a small microcosm for Illinois season.

Optimism was in the air after a close first half that saw contributions from many different Illini, just as the buzz grew after a strong nonconference season.

Kendrick Nunn led the way with seven points in the first half. Joseph Bertrand, who did not score in the Thursday’s opening game against Indiana, contributed six. Bertrand finished the game with nine points, his most since he began coming off the bench, after averaging 2.3 points per game in the first nine. Even with a strong first half, Michigan used six 3-pointers to hold a 38-33 advantage.

To begin the second half, Michigan went on a run to open up a 47-36 lead, forcing Illinois to call timeout.

The game appeared as if it was about to get out of hand, just as it did during their March 4 meeting in Champaign and just as Illinois’ eight-game losing streak did during the middle of the year.

But Rayvonte Rice answered moments later with an emphatic dunk . The Illini have answered every time they were pronounced finished this year. After the losing streak, NCAA tournament hopes and any postseason hopes at all seemed farfetched.

But the Illini responded to win seven of their last 10 games. On Friday, Illinois stormed out to a 19-6 surge in the second half to snatch the lead largely because Michigan had no answer for the Illini’s zone.

“I think they’re such a rhythm team,” Groce said. “They’re so good on offense. They’re second in the country in offensive efficiency for a reason. They execute as good as any team I’ve seen on film all year in the half court.”

Abrams led the Illini in scoring Thursday against Indiana, yet was held scoreless in the first half against the Wolverines. His aggressiveness returned after halftime and he finished with a team-high 11 points.

He wishes it was 13.

“It was clean, it was clean,” Abrams said. “What more can you ask for?”